Travel Dates!

I'm almost incoherant with nerves and to-do lists because we finally have travel dates! Our letter of invitation (in Russian) came last week and two days ago we finally got our travel dates! We have booked our tickets, thanks to Barbara Walters at Go To Russia Travels (yes, that is really her name). We are leaving for Almaty on March 9th... and arriving on March 11th!!!!! I don't even want to think about how many house in the air that means... but the important thing is that we are officially going. We will be back on April 12th (a.k.a - Easter).
After two years of longing and one year of serious planning, we will actually find and meet our son in less than ten days! Unbelievable!
I'll post an itinerary once I knock down some of the millions of things I have to do before we leave.
Stay tuned, folks, we are in the final countdown!
Paka!

Making room for baby

Tim and I have just finished painting the nursery and we love it soooo much that I had to share. Take a look.

I took the colors right from his quilt. I painted the branch and bird freehand and then stenciled the birch leaves across two walls. Isn't it awesome! Now all I have to do is finish the quilt ( I'm having a hard time letting go of it long enough to send it to the long arm quilter) and make some crib sheets. I'll keep you posted.

Paka!

Becca

Garrett's Christmas Present

I just finished the quilt top for Garrett's quilt. Here is a picture.

Now I just have to get a snuggly backing material and send it off to the long arm quilter.

Merry Christmas, baby, wherever you are. Mama loves you.

Psychology of a Quilt

My floors need to be swept and there are dishes in the sink. Anyone familiar with my housekeeping habits would know that this can only mean one of two things... either I just picked up a great new book or I've started a new quilt. Happily, in this case, it means that Garrett's baby quilt is out of storage and back on my ironing board, albeit in pieces.

Each quilt I've had the pleasure of sewing is a one of a kind creation. I've never repeated a pattern, because a quilt, to me, is like a letter. It's a love note from me to the recepient and I could never simply make duplicates any more than I could photocopy a note to one friend and send it to another.

When Tim and I were dating, I made him a velvet polar bear quilt set against a satinly midnight sky. When I was expecting Calvin, I made a "Wind in the Willows" themed quilt that invited him to adventure down a river past a castle to the purple mountains in the distance. One Christmas, I made Caroline a "flying geese" star quilt using a wedgewood blue bird pattern that I still love. When we were waiting for Carson, I made her a modern twist on the 'log cabin' quilt with playful blues and pinks and warm creams. (All of the rectangles wrapping around squares made it look like a hug to me.) When we found out that Avery was on the way, I made a quilt so pink that my long-arm quilter nicknamed it the "cotton candy quilt." It took me forever to finish a "Paris in springtime" quilt I made for the kids at the Ronald McDonald house who needed to be able to imagine themselves somewhere else.

It usually takes me as long to design a quilt as it does to make it, because I need to find a pattern and palate that feel just right. Not that I'm always successful. As I've never had a formal lesson, some quilts just don't turn out as I intended and I when I step back from them I can't shake feeling of the frustration. I want to stamp my foot and say, "that is not what I meant at all!" Still other quilts never get finished because I forget what it was I was trying to say and I can see no point in working on them if I can't remember why it was the pattern inspired me in the first place.

Garrett's quilt has been no exception. I puzzled over patterns and toyed with themes. I felt vaguely terrified at the prospect of making a quilt for someone who I loved so much but who had a story the beginning of which I knew nothing about. What if I got it all wrong? I spent hours scanning images of the Tien Shen Mountains in Kazakhstan looking for a vista that might inspire Garrett's quilt. But only when I looked at the other end of the quilting spectrum did I find my hook. In direct contrast to Calvin's quilt, Garrett's is one of the most traditional quilts I've ever made. I chose a pattern that mothers and grandmothers have been sewing for a century. The only modern twist comes from my palate, a lovely grouping of baby blue, celery, white, and coral, nearly all designed by my favorite fabric designer Anna Griffin. But, even though I knew I had found the right quilt for my baby, until now I couldn't articulate why Garrett's quilt had to be so traditional, while his brother's quilt is the ulitmate in free form. But now I figured it out.

When I sewed Calvin's "Wind in the Willows" quilt I was wishing him among, other things, a life in which he felt secure enough to seek adventure. Calvin would never doubt that he had a home behind him, so I sewed him a view from that home out into the wonders of the world that awaited him. Garrett, however, has started his life so far from home that I am stitching him a view back into the hearth. I'm sewing my far-born child a past. I'm telling him that all of those most basic pleasures of having a loving family and a stable home are his just as much as any child who received his family in a more traditional manner. When I give it to him, I will be saying "You are mine now and you always will be."

Ridiculously introspective but absolutely true.

I may never be able to make my kids understand how deeply and fiercely I love them, but I will wrap them up every night in blanket created just for that purpose.

Anyway, I love, love, love, how this quilt is coming along. Although I'm still working on it, here is a sneak peak. Just imagine it with a couple of borders and satin binding. Paka!

Green Light!

Huge News!
Less than two weeks after reconciling ourselves to the reality that our dossier wasn't going to be released from the MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) for 2-6 months, we found out that our dossier had, in fact, already been released from the MFA! What?!?!?!
So, what exactly does that mean, you ask?
Well, it means that within the next couple of weeks, the hard working people of the Kazakhstani Ministry of Education (where they sent our dossier next) will assign us a region. Then we will know where in Kazakhstan, our little one is living!!! Then we will just wait for our invitation to travel!
Wow!
We're getting really close now guys!
Wow!

No Early Christmas

Although we still have so much to be thankful for, there is no longer any chance that we will be spending the holidays in Kazakhstan with our new little love. We've just been notified that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) is now taking a minimum of at least four months to process dossiers and sometimes as much as six to eight months. This is up from an average of four to six weeks, when our dossier arrived in Kaz. Oh, the wild world of international adoption! The upside is that our dossier has been in Kazakhstan for almost three months already, so we have at least one more month (probably closer to two or three months) to wait before we hear any word on when we might travel. So I'm putting my gorgeous new stroller safely in the garage, because it looks like I won't be using it for a while and I'm off to tell Calvin, who only wants to talk about being a "big brother" to "baby Garrett," that we'll have to wait a while more. I know that we'll bring our baby home when the time is right, but this does feel like a punch in the gut. Love to you all. Paka. Becca

Thank You!

I just wanted to say a quick but very heartfelt "thank you" to all our wonderful family and friends for the beautiful baby shower this evening. It was great seeing everyone and really getting a chance to celebrate our new little love. I want to send an extra special bit of love to my wonderful sister (excited aunty) Caroline for giving the party. Everything was so beautiful, and put together with such care. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for all you hard work, Car. I appreicate all of the love you put into tonight.
And I can't say thank you enough to each of you for the amazing big brother quilt you made for Calvin! It is so beautiful and obviously crafted with such love. Calvin is sleeping snuggled up tight in it right now. He was so excited when I gave it to him. We must have looked over and explained each of the squares three times before he let me put him to bed. He was really interested in knowing who made which square. I think it is safe to say that he loves every bit of it.
Finally, thank you for Calvin and Garrett's sweeeeeet new ride. What a stroller! Wow! I am still reeling! Honestly, that thing is so cool, I may just have to stroll it around the house until Garrett arrives. I won't be able to wait!
I think I officially have all of the baby accessories... now I just need the baby!
Come on, honey, call you mother!